3.3.1 Reliability of the source

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The authority and credibility of the information is established by the credentials of the author(s) and the publication. The quality of information may vary according to the reliability of its source.

Is the periodical scholarly or refereed?

Articles can be published in a variety of periodicals, such as refereed journals, scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines or newspapers. The differences between these types of publications is discussed in 1.7.3. Periodicals.

Refereed and scholarly periodicals have the most academic credibility.

View a demonstration on determining whether a periodical is refereed. [1:28 minutes; options; help]

Ulrich's Periodicals Directory. © 2006 Cambridge Scientific Abstracts Limited Partnership. Used with permission.

Who is the publisher?

Without the basic knowledge of who the publisher is, it is difficult to determine the quality of a resource.

Although publication by a reputable publisher does not guarantee quality, it does mean that the publisher has high regard for the work.

Commercial publishers may let profit projections influence their publication decisions.

If published by a university press (e.g. Oxford University Press, Harvard Business School) the content is more likely to be scholarly.

For a Web page, publication by a reputable publisher implies some stability or permanency.

You can get a reasonable idea of the publisher of a Web page by looking at the domain name within the URL.

A domain name usually consists of four domains or parts:

Organisation

The organisation usually indicates the publisher.

Organisation Type

The organisation type can be particularly useful for determining the authority of a site. The main organisation types include:

However, it is worth noting that domain names do not always reflect the true nature of the organisation and cannot be considered the definitive authentication of a site. Validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness and point of view also need to be evaluated.